Chapter 1 #2
“Maya put me into the ball because I was twenty-one,” I say, quietly.
“I didn’t want to leave Hatton, Dad, Papa, or you, but I was excited too at the idea of finding love.
I was fucking na?ve. Maya had already picked out the Alcotts because of their parents’ prestige in the service industry.
The Alpha was a surgeon and his Beta a nurse.
I thought that they would be good people.
Although they were cold and clinical, I believed that I could create a home for us.
You know how we were raised; we’d barely met any Alphas or Betas.
I didn’t know what they were like. When I hesitated to accept their courting, Maya threatened Dad.
Then she offered better conditions to the Hotel Omegas if I agreed. It didn’t feel like much of a choice.”
Bird rushes to me, dragging me back into his arms. His cookie scent cocoons me, as he rests his chin on my head.
“You should have come to me, sis,” he says, fiercely. “I would have protected you. I would have—”
“I know. That’s why I didn’t tell you. I didn’t want you to become…”
I gently pull back, placing my pale wrist next to his darker one. Our matching Rej bracelets jangle.
A twisted R hangs from each bracelet like an ugly charm, marking our low, permanent status.
The R holds the technology inside that will alert the cops if we try to remove it.
Every Reject has to wear one by law.
There are two reasons to be marked as a Rej.
Be defective
Be rebellious.
We are both Rej2.
The Alcotts rejected me when they found their true scent match, despite the fact that I was pregnant. They used the excuse that we weren’t bonded yet, and my litany of cussing when they told me they were sending me back to my family, to mark me as rebellious.
Up until then, I’d successfully lived two lives; sweet and submissive in front of Alphas, and myself in private.
Or, as Cooper and the Third Omega, Jelani, who raised me and is just as much my dad, would say with indulgent sighs as I’d rampage through the penthouse, accidentally knocking over vases, or pranking Hatton again, an Omega imp.
Perhaps, I never had a chance of escaping becoming a Reject, as soon as I stepped outside my Omega parents’ protection.
Yet I blame the shock for my mask shattering.
I am more devastated that Bird was marked a Rej2 because of me.
“Look how well that worked out.” Bird’s eyes gleam with tears.
He holds up his wrist. “When Mom told me that those dickheads were abandoning you and their own kid, I fucking lost it. I’d never talked back to Mom before.
But I was feral. I told her that I’d share every secret of the hotel, unless she took you in.
I guess that it worked, but she didn’t forgive me. ”
Distress coils through me.
She didn’t.
Instead, she punished Bird in the worst way possible by not only marking him as a Rej Omega but making him work as a Hotel Omega as well.
Overwork him because he’s the most popular draw in the hotel: A Frost Omega, once in all of the PR campaigns but untouchable, now available to hire simply by calling reception.
Bird bites hard on his lip.
Instantly, I drag him to nuzzle against my neck in comfort as I have since he was born.
I remember how excited I was to stare down at the cradle, when my new brother was brought back from the hospital, tiny and adorable. I swore that I would play with and protect him.
I didn’t realize that he would do the same for me.
I smell Bird’s sweet, comforting scent of vanilla cookies.
I have strong Omega instincts, raised in a pack almost exclusively made up of Omegas and no Betas.
We nuzzle each other, sweeping pheromones over each other.
I relax, feeling Bird’s shoulders slump as well.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper.
Bird’s laugh is lively, despite the exhausted shadows under his eyes.
“I’m more free down here than I ever was up in that stuffy penthouse with Mom.
Don’t apologize to me because I turned into a psycho, overprotective brother.
Mr. Sinner is the pack Alpha as the manager, and he does the best impression of being a hardass, while really being a cinnamon roll. ”
My expression softens, and I blush. “Icarus is the only exception to the Alpha asshole rule. He’s the only one who I’ll save when the revolution happens in this hotel.”
“Aw, Icarus, is it?”
At the thought of the only Alpha on staff — tall, golden haired, and electric blue eyed — slick immediately soaks my panties.
Not for the first time, I’m grateful for the special, Omega absorbent panties that are handed out to staff.
I need them when even thinking about Icarus, our manager.
He’s the only Alpha who I trust around myself or Zoe, my tiny bundle of Omega joy.
Or more like bundle of mischief.
My daughter is turning out to be just as much of a rebel as I was.
Well played karma.
Zoe is the reason I don’t regret anything that has happened to me. She is worth every moment of rejection and suffering.
Happiness surges through me at the thought of my daughter. Instantly, I miss the feel of her in my arms. She is fourteen months old, and every hour that I’m away from her still makes me ache deep inside.
“Since Icarus shares looking after your niece between my shifts,” I reply, “dealing with dirty nappies, cereal dumped over his head, and truly impressive tantrums, it seems that he’s earned the right to be called by his first name.”
“How about we call him Uncle Icarus then?” Bird shudders. “Nope, can’t do it. He’s so stern, I refuse to believe that anyone calls him anything but Mr. Sinner.”
If only he knew.
I hide my secret smile.
“How about we put our plans for bloody revenge aside for the moment since it is only a couple of days until Christmas?” I grab Bird by the arm, tugging him toward the archway out to the lobby.
“I have about half an hour, until Zoe wakes up from her nap and demands cuddles with menaces. So, how about we shake off the Grinch spirit?”
“Hey, we’re getting a bit too close.” Bird’s sweet scent sours with alarm. “What if we’re seen? I don’t want to be locked in the wine cellar again.”
My heart rate speeds up.
A shiver of fear chases down my spine. “We’ll be careful. Don’t you want to at least see the decorations this year? Ollie says that housekeeping have brought in the biggest tree ever. They had to stand on high ladders to fit the baubles and shit on the branches.”
“I wish that we could have a tree for the staff. I’m going to at least fetch some garlands from the staff gardens and use them and pinecones. Mr. Sinner says that he’s working on something, even if the staff don’t get to take the day off.”
My smile widens. “Icarus does his best every year.”
I squint out of the dark corridor into the light lobby.
Bird nuzzles against my neck, and I soothe him with my pheromones.
It’s strange for both of us to be cut off, trapped on this side with the staff, when we spent most of our lives playing in the lobby and not understanding how privileged we were.
The grand 1920s art deco lobby gleams in marble. A long, golden counter runs along the back.
Vast crystal chandeliers drip from the ceiling. Columns rise between the sweeping mahogany staircase.
A striking fireplace, which roars and crackles with an open log fire, stands between ivory couches, which are flanked by tall vases with fresh flowers.
The entire lobby, however, has been transformed into a stunning winter wonderland with stylish silver and white decorations and matching plush throws.
Scented candles, which along with the ventilators that work throughout the public areas of the hotel to help neutralize the mix of so many pheromones and scents, make the room smell of gingerbread.
My eyes sting with tears.
Hell, I miss Dad.
I glance at my brother and know that he’s thinking the same thing.
Dad smells of gingerbread.
Is that why Maya is using the scent? Or is it just chance?
Bird whistles softly under his breath. “Look at that tree. What a monster.”
The fir tree is so tall that the top is slanted at an angle; the star on the top looks like it’s pointing back at the earth.
Is that a bad omen?
I quirk my brow. “I bet that Ellington chose it to compensate for his tiny dick.”
“Maybe it’s shaped like his too.” Bird snickers.
“Disrespectful.”
“Shocking. Almost like I’m rebellious.”
“Now there’s one Omega who definitely has knot envy.”
I love both my dad and Papa. I have tried to love my stepdad. But I barely know Ellington, and he hasn’t tried to know me.
Not all Omegas are good.
The music is louder here and jaunty like the elegantly dressed packs— baseball stars, tech billionaires, and senators — who chatter happily and stroll with their precious Omegas held cozily between them.
My nails bite into my palms at the sight of an Omega, who is bundled up in a warm woolen pink coat and scarf, with her female Beta’s arm wrapped around her shoulders.
I recognize the Beta as a famous movie star from the latest fantasy blockbuster franchise.
The Alpha is carrying in his arms a swaying stack of brightly wrapped Christmas presents.
I wrench my gaze away to Ollie, Icarus’ high school aged Beta brother, who isn’t in school like he should be but is working as the hotel’s bell hop.
Ollie is struggling to drag a striped suitcase after him, which is as large as he is.
He is dressed in a distinctive outfit that looks like a uniform for a drummer boy with a fitted waist-length jacket with trimmed piping and rows of close-set brass buttons and black trousers.
An oval, brimless cap with a crown and a chinstrap is flattening his wild golden curls. He has the same blue eyes as Icarus.
I stiffen, when a female Alpha, who is the same age as Ollie, pats him on the head patronizingly as they walk.
Ollie only continues to smile cheerfully.
After all, it’s the rule that staff must never look sad in front of guests.
Ollie’s smile doesn’t slip, even when the girl’s brother deliberately trips him and he almost loses his footing.